We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Candi Milo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Candi , thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I have always believed that “no stranger is going to buy you a birthday present”. The idea behind that is that you have to step into a room, under your power, with that power on full display, and take what you want from any and all opportunities presented. The powers that be are not your friends. They are strangers. And you are the solution. Especially in a creative setting, when the specs of a project might be widely vague OR incredibly specific.

I have done this for every union card I hold. I stepped into every room and lit it up with what I brought. There is a certain beauty in that. Because if you believe you are the answer and they say no, it is truly their loss. It helped me tremendously when I was young.

Don’t get me wrong. No showboating. No blustering. Just walking in and stepping forward and digging in my heels until I had a chance to do my thing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I began singing at Marriott’s Great America Theme Park in Santa Clara in 1977. I was 15 when hired and would turn sixteen the summer I would perform. The youngest performer they had ever hired. I had been doing musicals locally with the San Jose Children’sMusic Theater. I went on to work for Disney in Florida. I sang on Princess Cruises. I performed with The Radio City Music Hall Rockette’s in Los Angeles. I sang with Liberace. I was in the first national tour of Dreamgirls.

I’ve done lots of television shows and was a recurring regular on Perfect Strangers. I’ve done movies with Steve Gutenberg, Jason Alexander and Crocodile Dundee. I have done over 100 commercials and am even a meme from one contract.

And then I got into cartoons, and was hired by Steven Spielberg in the original Tiny Toons Adventures. And I’ve just kind of stayed there. LOL!!!

I ventured into stand-up while doing cartoon voices (But didn’t like the crowd work) and auditioned and tested for every sketch comedy show around; MadTV, In Living Color and Saturday Night Live.

And then I became I writer. At first I wrote a one-woman show called IF SHE TAPS YOU’RE FCKED, based on a story I tell in my memoir Surviving The Odd.

Writing my memoir has been incredibly cathartic and has led me to a place of peace and joy. I hope to write another sort of memoirist book of short stories about my life currently titled, I Really Should Be Dead By Now.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I drove two very brilliant and talented friends to their audition for the Los Angeles union call of Dreamgirls. We were all rehearsing Christmas in Los Angeles With the Radio City Music Hall Rockets at the Shrine Auditorium.

As I was waiting the atrium at the Scottish Rite temple was getting antsy. One lady threw her hands up, and her number on the ground, and said, “I’m out!” I picked up that number, 77, and headed to the Actor’s Equity Deputy to hand it over.

A woman who was at least 107 years old, but looked good for her age, said, “Oh honey, you’re in!”

I froze.

I was not black. I was not union. I didn’t know the Tony Award winning show. But there was something inside me that said, “what have you got to lose?!” I ran to my car and got my pleather folio with headshot, stapled resume and my uptempo and ballad in in and came racing back in.

I opened the door to the stage and ran in. And right into director Michael Bennett. He asked if he could help me and I said I needed a job. He asked if I danced. I said I tapped. He then turned, grabbed my arm, dragging me to the pianist and in a sing songy voice said, “Oh you must go first.”

The pianist, the kindest woman I know asked me if I really sang, because this was a tough room. I said did. I handed her my music and proceeded to sing Up The Ladder To The Roof Ala Bette Midler. The room was quiet.

Michael Bennet came back on stage and asked if I had anything else. We went to the pianist who asked me if I knew any Judy Garland. I belted Over The Rainbow as she kept keep changing higher and higher, testing my belt.

Then we danced. I was sweating bullets because I really only tapped. But it was party dancing and I was a huge fan of Soul Train. So I boogied on down.

I got the job. But had I left out of fear or intimidation because I wanted them to “like” me I would have missed out.

And ever sine then I arrive, do my thing nd leave. It’s served me well for decades.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think society can do more to realize that people who work in h industry are working actors. Celebrities are different. Almost all of us are one paycheck away from financial trouble. And we might need to take a second or third job to continue doing what we love to do.

The 1940s glamor was not real. The homes old time stars lived in were not expensive back in the day or leased to them by studios. It has always been a hard road.

Mega-celebrities are far and few between. The music industry is a whole other thing. But Betty White worked until the day she died.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.candimilo.com
• Instagram: @thecandimilo
• Linkedin: Candi Milo
• Twitter: @candimilo
• Other: TikTok @candimilo